California's 2017 Housing Legislation: Get to Know the New Housing Bills

After years of advocacy and devastating homeless statistics, it finally happened, affordable housing took center stage in this year’s legislative agenda. On September 15, 2017, Governor Jerry Brown signed a robust package of housing legislation aimed at addressing the ongoing and unprecedented housing affordability crisis in California. The 15 bills seek to streamline the housing development approval process, lower the cost of construction, and provide new funding for low-income housing development. The major parts of the package include SB 2 which allows for a new fee on specific real estate documents to generate hundreds of millions of dollars per year for affordable housing, supportive housing, emergency shelters, and transitional housing; SB 3 which authorizes a $4 billion housing bond to fund affordable housing and infill infrastructure projects; and SB 35 which seeks to streamline multifamily housing project approvals.

Join Los Angeles LISC and our panel of experts to delve into the package of new state laws and what they mean for the affordable housing development community now and in the future. What are the successes of this package and what work still needs to be done as we look to 2018?